The Vampire Diaries Recap, "The New Deal"

The Vampire Diaries "The New Deal": The Good, the Bad, and the Bloody

Chat with us on Facebook Messenger. Learn what's trending across POPSUGAR.

The Vampire Diaries made its triumphant return after a long hiatus, and boy was this episode worth the wait. It's not the most action-packed episode we've ever seen, but there was a hell of a lot of plot development to make up for that. More specifically, I'm talking about the major OMG moment that happened in the final minutes!

Family is the running theme this week, as Klaus is trying to recover his coffins family members, and naturally he uses Elena's loved ones as bait. Meanwhile, Elena is having some problems relating to Jeremy, who is suddenly acting like his rebellious, season-one self. And, of course, it wouldn't be The Vampire Diaries without some friction between Damon and Stefan. Ready to break down this particularly juicy episode? Just

.

The Good

That kiss. That kiss. THAT KISS! OK, now that I've gotten that out of my system, let's rewind.

Elena's feeling a little paranoid now that Klaus has disappeared, particularly when a dude starts following her on her morning jog. Turns out that she has a right to be worried: he's one of Klaus's new henchmen. Might I suggest that Elena get a gym membership? Running around alone isn't going to help keep her safe.

Now that Bonnie and Jeremy are over, she's back to being preoccupied with witchy business. She can't stop dreaming of finding four coffins in the dusty old haunted house and doesn't know what to make of the vision. I'd be confused too, especially since she seems to be dressed for clubbing in the dreams.

Jeremy is having his own trouble getting over the breakup, so he turns to Tyler for some day drinking and crossbow practice in the woods. Tyler can't stop crowing about how much he loves being a hybrid, and Elena and Alaric are immediately alarmed by Jeremy's newfound friendship. Jeremy has a point in calling Elena a hypocrite, but it's clear that Tyler is totally brainwashed by Klaus.

While Damon is busy enjoying "brunch in a bottle," Klaus shows up seeking help from Elena and Damon. He promises to leave them alone if they help him find Stefan and Rebekah, but Damon and Elena aren't buying it. Later on, Damon gets the whole coffin story out of Klaus over a drink, but Klaus sees through Damon's faux attempts to bond and decides to send a message to Elena.

That message is using his hitmen Tony and Tyler to hurt Jeremy. The only problem is that Alaric gets Jeremy out of harm's way and ends up getting hit by Tony's car. At least Tyler pushes back with Klaus a little bit when he realizes that Klaus has no problem killing people.

Stefan recruits Bonnie to help him hide the Originals, but Bonnie spills the beans to Elena almost immediately. Elena then confronts Stefan, who is icier than ever and earns himself another slap in the face when he says he doesn't care about Jeremy's well-being.

Damon decides that he's the only one to get through to Stefan, and they engage in a good old-fashioned brotherly staking. Once Damon has Stefan pinned, Stefan confesses that the only reason he let Klaus go was to protect Damon. Here's where I'm confused: if Stefan has no humanity whatsoever, why would he care about what happens to Damon? And if he does have a little bit of a humanity left, why is he still being such a jerk to Elena?

Elena gives Rebekah up to Klaus, believing that it will keep Jeremy safe. It takes about three seconds before Klaus starts threatening every other person in her life, so so much for that idea. However, I did notice that Elena seems much more confident around Klaus, which is an interesting development since I'm so over her damsel in distress act.

Once Elena learns that Jeremy will really never be safe, she takes her big puppy-dog eyes to Damon for help. I can't get enough of the tender moments between them when Damon gets all nurturing and tells her everything will be OK. On her request, he compels Jeremy to leave town and live with friends in Denver and never look back.

And then — the kicker! During introspective porch time, Damon tells Elena the truth about how Stefan saved his life, and admits that he didn't like hearing it because it gives him more reason to feel guilty about his feelings for her. Just when you think that he's about to take off, he turns around and goes for the kiss. The best part? Elena totally reciprocates! It is so on.

The Bad

Tyler is almost insufferable when he's not with Caroline. I loved seeing them as a couple, but now that they're broken up he's back to his obnoxious ways. I'm longing for the days when he was just a werewolf instead of a self-important hybrid.

Is this really the end of Jeremy? I hate that Elena's whole family has disappeared over the course of the seasons, and I find it hard to believe that they couldn't do more with his character.

The Bloody

How crazy did Jeremy look taking that cleaver to the hybrid? I'm just glad that we were spared the gore.

Though there was no blood-sucking this week, watching Alaric cough up his own blood was more than I needed to see. Yuck.

Are you as pleased with this episode as I am? Will you miss Jeremy? And most importantly — do you think we'll be seeing Damon and Elena action on a weekly basis now? Sound off in the comments!

I'm still in shock at how much of a jerk Stefan is being. I can't stand it. I'm officially OFF Team Stefan after that episode. :) Sad about Jeremy leaving, although I venture to guess it won't be long before we see him again. It can't be! Four more days until I get my fix again...

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see Elena and Damon action on a weekly basis. I wish!
Oh man, right when Jeremy becomes a serious badass with a meat cleaver, causing a ridiculously awesome girly squeal out of Elena, they tell him to skip town! I think he'll be back, though. I doubt he's completely written out.
And I loved how Elena decided to give back Rebekkah but then open a serious can of worms for Klaus when she explains that Rebekkah probably wants to kill her now. THEN mentions that she is mad at Klaus, which will make her nearly impossible to control. (Control that Klaus counts on having over her, of course.)
So. good. I agree with your assessments entirely. And Tyler seemed like a total idiot dirtbag last night. His jacket with the scrunched up sleeves was driving me nuts.
I also am curious to see what this means about Alaric's ring's effectiveness.
OH YEAH, and Paul Wesley's wife's character looks like she could become rather important. Curious to see what happens there. (Meredith Fell was the character's name.) Anyways, long story short, I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for the rest of the season's episodes!